It’s pretty hard to write an obituary for someone you never met personally. But maybe that’s not entirely true. For the last 10 years or so, I bought the Profil every week just to read Mr. Tramontanas’ column. And every time, it was witty, and sharp, and to the point, but it was never cynical. His irony was both biting and heartwarming. Week after week after week, he made it possible to have fun with even the stupidest of events, and for the time it seemed that no matter how many opportunistic madmen tried to fuck with this country and its inhabitants, Tramontana could repel them all with a simple flick of his pen.

I remember that, back in high school, I tried to get a summer job at the Profil just so I could meet him once. I wasn’t accepted, of course, but his style and love for smart comments about stupid events continued to influence me. Maybe the easiest proof of his greatness can be found in the fact that the Profil was probably the only magazine in this country that most people started reading from the last page - because that’s where his column could be found for 30 years.

Now he’s gone, dead at 57, and there’s not a single active journalist who could replace him, or even get close to the place he had. Austria lost one of its greatest authors and thinkers, one of the few people who had both the position and the ability to comment the daily insanity we face without constant screaming and cursing. He was a whispering, yet loud voice of reason, courage and intelligence, and will be dearly missed.

Related posts:

1. A farewell to Dr. Gonzo
2. † Günther Nenning (1921 - 2006)
3. there goes the republic.
4. Say farewell to TATblatt
5. Kurt Waldheim is dead